My top 10 finest things in golf - Tony Jacklin

1. The people you meet. By virtue of a shared passion for golf the extraordinary people I have met over the years, it’s unbelievable. Kings, Presidents, many of the greatest entertainers. The game took me to another world. I have played with King Constantine of Greece, President Ford, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Bob Hope. I played with President Ford at Moor Park way back in the early 1980s, it was quite an experience. ‘Anything you see in my swing, just tell me, give me a tip...’ said Ford. Of course, he asked every golfer he ever met for a tip, which probably explains why he couldn’t really play! It’s difficult to pinpoint specific events. But I always remember my old caddie, Scottie Gilmore, caddying for me when I was playing with King Constantine of Greece in the Pro-Am at the Italian Open. We were on the 1st green and dear old Scottie held the flag and said, ‘Do you want it in or out King?’. It was so funny, but I had to take him to one side. ‘Scottie,’ I said, ‘you don’t address royalty like that – you ask whether his Highness, or His Majesty would like the pin tended.’ Scottie just looked at me and said ‘How the **** would I know, I haven’t ever been out with a ******* king before.’ One of the other great periods of my career occurred the Pro Celebrity series for the BBC. We had such a terrific line-up of people, all enjoying the same game as I did. Sean Connery, Jimmy Tarbuck, Johnnie Miller, Bing Crosby, Bruce Forsyth. The times we had at Gleneagles. It’s such a shame there’s nothing like that on TV today.

2. The places golf takes you. The game took me to countries I could only ever have dreamed about as a boy growing up in Scunthorpe. Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, China, across the Americas. Virtually everywhere I wanted to go. I travelled right across the Far East in my early 20s, travel was very different then, but it was so exciting to see these other cultures. We couldn’t always afford the fancy hotels and in may places we were put up by families and we nurtured friendships that lasted a long time. Life was an adventure and I enjoyed every minute of it.

3. The fact that the game of golf is yours for a lifetime. I started when I was 8 – I’m nearly 68 now. I play with my grandchildren. I have 6 kids and have played a lot of golf with them. We are so lucky in that golf is not a game you enjoy only as a kid when you’re young and fit. As long as you can get out and swing a club it’s a great way to come together with friends and family of all ages. When I was a kid the game was not all that popular for youngsters. I won the Lincolnshire Open at 13 and there were maybe eight competitors in the junior bracket. Most of them a lot older than me. Nowadays there are a lot of youngsters playing the game and I love to see that. Clubs have to encourage it.

4. Seeing my son Sean win for the first time, a big Florida junior event a couple of years ago. That was very special, knowing that he was experiencing the same emotions I can remember having winning those Lincolnshire Opens as a kid.

5. Winning majors, winning Ryder Cups – succeeding would be the word. After all the time and effort you put in, the dreams and the visualisations you have as a young man, there’s no feeling like the high you get out of this game winning at the highest level. It doesn’t get any better. The satisfaction in that is beyond words really.

6. I love the disciplines involved in the game. And I think it’s healthy. You know, the fact you can’t cheat your grip, or alignment, or any of the fundamentals. I’ve always had a respect for it. The whole list of pre-swing checks, the laws that underpin the swing – to me it’s relevant to life itself. Even today when I go out to pay for a bit of fun, the habits are still there. As a golfer you automatically go through the rituals, reminding yourself of the things you must do, what are you trying to achieve, all the time talking to yourself. (I do that a lot on the golf course!)

7. The integrity of the game. The humility that you experience getting beat up most of the time. The wins only come very occasionally, unless you are some sort of superman. So you have to learn about humility and, of course, sportsmanship, being able to look the other guy in the eye when he has beaten you and say ‘well played.’ Those things are all-important. And the fact that you go out on your own with a card in your hand and mark your own score down.

8. The solitude golf offers. The practice, the getting better, seeing gradual improvement in all of the departments of the game. Quiet time with yourself, being out on the range or on the course in the fresh air, wind blowing. Golf is a solitary pursuit and there’s an element of that I have always enjoyed. You are striving for your own goals that you set for yourself, and at the end of each day you go home to your respective place of rest and you are still going through your round, thinking about what you did (or what you didn’t do, usually!) and striving to get better. It’s something the golfer has to do on his own. It’s an aspect of the game I embraced.

9. Designing golf courses that will challenge others. I haven’t built dozens of courses but I enjoy immensely the fact that the course will be there to be played long after I am gone. The key is to make them fair but challenging, that’s the responsibility of a designer. Each piece of land presents a different challenge and our job is to be sympathetic to the surroundings and come up with the best possible scenario.

10. Having thought about this for a while I’d say gratitude to my dad, for introducing me to a game he loved so much at a young age. It’s been my whole life. I’ve been playing for 60 years, and enjoyed every single minute of it. It’s hard to equate the things that have happened, but everything I have in my life is down to golf. All the people, all of the places. If I’d remained in the steelworks at Scunthorpe I’d never had known the world I have. My parents wanted me to have a trade – that was the mindset then. I left school at 15 and was an apprentice fitter at the steelworks for a year – but I always knew I wanted to be a pro. I applied for a job with Bill Shanklin at Potter’s Bar, and I can remember saying to my dad that if he could drive me there for the interview I would only take the job if he liked what he heard. It was a world away from today. We didn’t have a telephone at home, so for the first couple of months of my professional life we kept in touch by writing letters. A world away from the way we live today. But just being involved with golf every day was a joy in itself and I can honestly say I would have been perfectly happy as a club pro. Whether it was giving lessons, fixing members clubs or looking after the shop, I loved it. But I was keen to play and a few members of the club at Potters Bar got together and guaranteed my expenses, which enabled me to enter tournaments. It all started in 1963 when I made the cut in the Open at Royal Lytham – the rest, as they say, is history.